Sugar Storm

For me the imagery in the painting was about drive and transformation, the power of will and intention. How what we put into the world slowly shapes and changes that world - the smoke, in a surreal manner, attempting illustrating that idea. I enjoyed the mystery of not knowing if the girl in the painting is sinister or innocent as well though. Her appearance is sweet, but the smoke suggests something potentially ominous. The viewer is also looking slightly up towards her face, giving the girl a kind of power and elevation. There's also this dichotomy between the girlish pink and the darker reds, further adding to the ambiguity of her intention. I see the piece as both the femme and the femme fatale. It's not meant to be a perfectly understood/communicated message, but something more felt and more elusive.

Toronto based young artist and illustrator Sarah Joncas shows off mysterious inner life of female portraiture placed in cartoon and film-noir atmosphere.